miter saw

Good morning and Merry Christmas... I plan on buying a "fret slot cutting blade" from stew mac... do to limited space... I would need to purchase a sliding miter saw.... my Q???? Is, what size saw will work for this job? thanks in advance.... have a on top day......

Good morning and Merry Christmas... I plan on buying a "fret slot cutting blade" from stew mac... do to limited space... I would need to purchase a sliding miter saw.... my Q???? Is, what size saw will work for this job? thanks in advance.... have a on top day......

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Some people use a hand saw with a block, placed at the line for each fret. As long as the block was cut to fit the angle of the edge of the neck/fretboard, the line will be square to the centerline. If the saw you're looking at is small diameter, it may be accurate but chop saws and sliding miter saws have enough play in the mechanism that I wouldn't call it 'accurate enough' for this. Also, the larger the saw is, the more error is caused by a small inaccuracy.

If you use a hand saw, look for a "gentleman's saw" or a small crosscut saw. The teeth of a crosscut saw are more like chisels and for a clean cut across the grain, while a rip saw is for staying online when cutting with the grain. If you look at Rockler or Woodcraft, they have some nice ones that aren't terribly expensive. Lie-Nielsen and Lee Valley have good saws, too.

I bought a 7-1/4" sliding chop saw from Lowes, the Cobalt brand, works great with the Stew Mac fret blade. The only problem is the lazer on the saw isn't adjustable so when you use the thinner fret blade the lazer mark will be off just a little. I use this on multi-scale fretboards.

If your doing staight frets then you can use the metal templates from Stew Mac and a table saw. You'll have to make your own slider.

Some people use a hand saw with a block, placed at the line for each fret. As long as the block was cut to fit the angle of the edge of the neck/fretboard, the line will be square to the centerline. If the saw you're looking at is small diameter, it may be accurate but chop saws and sliding miter saws have enough play in the mechanism that I wouldn't call it 'accurate enough' for this. Also, the larger the saw is, the more error is caused by a small inaccuracy.

If you use a hand saw, look for a "gentleman's saw" or a small crosscut saw. The teeth of a crosscut saw are more like chisels and for a clean cut across the grain, while a rip saw is for staying online when cutting with the grain. If you look at Rockler or Woodcraft, they have some nice ones that aren't terribly expensive. Lie-Nielsen and Lee Valley have good saws, too.

David, I would got to HD, Lowes, Menards, and Sears, find the one with the smoothest mechanism and least amount of wiggle so you can do as precision a job as possible. A friend is using a Craftsman compound sliding miter saw to do his slots in Missouri.

David, I would got to HD, Lowes, Menards, and Sears, find the one with the smoothest mechanism and least amount of wiggle so you can do as precision a job as possible. A friend is using a Craftsman compound sliding miter saw to do his slots in Missouri.

I have run through soooooo many miter saws, I've truly lost count......but if you have the money, there is nothing that would be as perfect as a Makita LS0714. It has a smaller 7 1/2" blade at 6000 rpm.